Reverie on a Balcony
by Kurai Hitokiri
Summary: I might be insinuating that I've never lived and I've never loved until I had you here...' Princess Zelda only had one moment of happiness with Link, the servant... one moment of fragile love before he was taken from her forever...


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**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Legend of Zelda, Nintendo, or any of these characters.

**Author's Note:** I wrote this based on my sibling's song which is, joy, named the same thing as this story. It's such a beautiful, kind of melancholy sounding song, so this is kinda based upon the meanings of love I found from it… well yeah. Anyway, I need to update The Courtship, which is something else I will do very soon. Okay, enjoy.

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**Reverie on a Balcony**

By Kurai Hitokiri

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Princess Zelda was an independent young woman; even from birth she had earned a reputation as the most outspoken of the Royal Family. Her opinions on issues were strong, since she had immersed herself in politics from the moment she had could read. She often conflicted with her father, the powerful King Shen Harkinian, on issues relating to the condition of the kingdom. Her words, no matter how ridiculous to her father, held plenty of wisdom and merit.

Shen Harkinian was a tyrant; any money that the kingdom possessed went to his luxury rather than the people. Any who complained was tried and found guilty, spending the rest of their lives either in the dank dungeons or they were sold as slaves to the wealthy. Those that committed larger infractions were beheaded, burned at the stake, or tortured until dead or broken.

Despite his rough reputation, King Harkinian would do anything to appease his little girl (just not changing his horrid politics.) Zelda was the last 'memento' of his one love, the spitting image of her mother as a young woman. The most beautiful pearl in his possession and perhaps the one under the most protection.

No man of poor blood would lay finger on her, and those nobles that lay finger upon her precious skin without King Harkinian's permission kissed their lives goodbye. The young Princess, as such, was extremely lonely and had no companion other than her bodyguard, Impa of the Sheikah.

One day as she passed through the halls of the Royal Quarters she caught sight of a beautiful youth within her father's study.

He was about 19, only two years older than herself, rather tall and broad shouldered for his young age. His skin was lightly sun-kissed and his features were befitting of a Prince, with shaggy blonde hair curling around a youthful and roughly handsome face. He was garbed in servant's robes and cleaning her father's prized rapier with a gentle smile upon his beautiful face. His eyes were a light sky blue, honest and kind.

Zelda had never seen a man so handsome in her presence, yet how was it that he was not of noble blood? The servant was far fairer than a great deal of Princes, yet he bore a far less regal air… it was less stifling and more gentle than any she had been around before.

As she took a few more trembling steps, the young man spotted her, looking up and smiling gently at her. He stood, not trembling or afraid as he approached her with a slight bow, taking her hand and gracing the surface with a soft kiss.

Zelda's knees buckled as she listened to his soft introduction. His name was Link, a servant in the castle… So he was not merely a noble who had needed a temporary change of clothing. How was it that he was a man, yet he made her feel so… inferior? She had dealt with many a man before, why was it this man that made her feel this way?

From that moment on they were inseparable, it seemed. He made her laugh and smile with his light-hearted ways; she made him feel far greater than he was. They completed and complimented one another without ever trying. There was no awkwardness between them, no hatred or anger. To them there was no tragedies, they were oblivious to it all… to the immense heartbreak that seemed to creep upon others that watched them. Her heart opened to him… and she couldn't hide her loneliness and joy with him, but he bore all her burdens and held her aloft with his affections.

One night they stood together, upon the balcony in Zelda's private quarters and staring at the stars wrapped in each other's warm embrace. They laughed at the small stories that went along with the twinkling lights, but they had eyes only for one another.

Their gazes locked in one moment, an invisible force drawing them together into an inevitable kiss.

The world stopped and stared in that one moment. Sound stopped its weary journey and for that one sweet moment they were the only beings in that silent world. He knew her, and she only knew him.

She buried her hands in his golden mane, tasted the distinct sweetness of his lips, and smelled the pine needles upon his clothing. She felt his affection overflow and completely overtake her as he pulled her ever closer into his spell. She had no choice but to surrender herself to him.

The moment they pulled apart heaving for air, he held her close and whispered the three most powerful words in existence. The phrase older than time itself… "I love you." The three words that gave her joy…

The three words that would destroy him.

At the instant they came to kiss each other one last time fate laughed at them.

A soldier burst through the doors, disgusted by the pure scene of affection before him. He threw himself upon the servant, boxing with him and struggling violently whilst calling for help from his kin.

Several men where summoned from his garbled call, seizing the struggling Link and binding him in chains while violently beating him.

Zelda ordered them to stop, throwing herself into the fray only to be stopped by Link's own calls. He begged her to stay away, that he would see her again eventually. He did not want her to be harmed or blamed.

He assured his lover, struggling against his bonds as the soldiers pulled him from the room, his blood sprinkling upon the ground and only a single blue eye showing out from behind his beaten features.

She prayed overnight that she might see him again, and directly addressed her father in the morning as to Link's whereabouts…

He was dead. Beaten and killed only moments after he had left her room. The kiss that they shared had been their first and last… His assurances had been his last words. The "I love you" he declared so proudly to her had never been returned and instead had damned him to death.

Zelda fled to her room in anger, shouting and yelling in blind pain as she wept for her fallen lover.

Love had been the light that driven her out of hiding. It had twisted her innards and eaten them away… and it did so even now… There were a thousand ways she had wanted to tell him she loved him…

And now he was dead because of her so called 'love.'

She stood, limping onto the balcony and staring into the dark blue skies… He was no longer with her… He would never smile or love again because of her.

She closed her eyes, pretending his presence was once again there. That he was draped about her so warmly once again. That their, fragile, blind love still existed in this world.

She felt weightless for a moment; the cool stone no longer beneath her feet and the air surrounding her as the initial pain of the stone railing left her legs. She smiled as she fell, farther and farther, down into the cold and unforgiving ground below. She had jumped, jumped because nothing mattered more than him and he was no longer in this world.

And, before she died, she felt no pain…

She merely felt the happiness… the reverie she had felt that one moment on the balcony…

That happiness would be eternal for her now, after all…

She would be with him shortly.

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**Author's Note:** Why do I write Emo stories? Maaan, I need to do a bit more comedy or something. Anyway, thank you for reading this story, please read and review to tell me what you thought.


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